Jan. 4, 2007
Box Score
STOCKTON, Calif. - Senior Jerise Freeman (Wichita, Kan.) recorded her first career double-double with 11 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, but the Pacific women's basketball team dropped its Big West Conference home opener to UC Riverside, 58-50, on Thursday, Jan. 4, at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
With the loss, Pacific dropped to 6-9 overall and 0-2 in Big West Conference action. UC Riverside improved to 9-6 overall (3-0 Big West).
In a back-and-forth struggle for most of the night, the contest between the top Big West team and the upstart Tigers boiled down to the final three minutes. Down by just three points with 2:42 to play, the Tigers had multiple chances to erase the Highlanders' lead, but after being held quite from distance for the entire night, UC Riverside got hot from behind the arc. Kemie Nkele hit twice from distance, her only baskets from deep, as the Highlanders built their lead to eight points.
A foul and one free throw later, UC Riverside had their biggest lead of the night at nine points with just under one minute to play, but the Tigers cut the lead down to six with a shot of their own from behind the arc as Freeman capped off her career night with a shot her second three-pointer and giving her the double-double. Despite missed free-throws by UC Riverside, the Tigers were not able to capitalize and cut further into the lead as UC Riverside walked away with the eight point win as the final horn sounded.
The Tigers got off to a good start in the contest as they scored the first six points of the contest, holding the Highlanders without a basket for the first four and a half minutes of the contest. However, once UC Riverside broke the seal, the Highlanders finished the half hitting nine of their final 15 shots after going 1-of-10 to start the game to shoot, finishing the half at 40.0% shooting. Pacific finished the half shooting 34.6% (9-of-26) from the floor, led by sophomore Karen Dawkins (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and freshman Emma Head (San Diego, Calif.) as each had six points in the half.
The second half of the contest was owned by Freeman for the Tigers as she posted seven points and eight rebounds in the final 20 minutes of the game. Sophomore Whitney Price (Las Vegas, Nev.) came on strong in the second half as she scored all eight of her points, one short of her career-high, hitting her first three-pointer of the season. She would hit another in the half and finished with eight rebounds.
While Freeman and Price drove the pace for the Tigers in the second frame, Nkele and Tainoisouti Lott drove the pace of the game for both teams as the duo combined for 24 second half points. Lott finished the contest with a game-high 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting. Nkele was right behind her partner in the post as she netted 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Nkele also added to her conference leading block total as she posted two blocks on the night to give her 36 on the season.
For the second consecutive game the Tigers allowed their opponents to shoot over 50.0% from the field as the Highlanders came in with a .512 clip. On the other end, the Tigers shot just 26.7% from the floor as they went 16-of-60 on the night.
Pacific dominated the glass in the contest, outrebounding the Highlanders, 44-to-30, on the night. Of their 44 rebounds, the Tigers posted 20 offensive rebounds, six coming from Price.
Pacific returns to action on Saturday, January 6, as they take on the Titans of Cal State Fullerton at the Alex G. Spanos Center. Game time is scheduled for 7:00 pm.
